


A Piece of Forever

by vonvoyage



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Master of Death Harry Potter, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:28:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25201687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vonvoyage/pseuds/vonvoyage
Summary: “Potter, watch out!” he shouted, but Harrie didn’t have time to react before the spell hit her.It happened almost as if in slow motioned as her body froze up and she stumbled to the side, falling into the pool of the mystery substance.With her gaze still locked on Cormack’s terrified eyes, she had a moment of remembering the last time she’d been inside the Department of Mysteries and had been forced to watch Sirious die. Only now it was her and not her godfather falling. And then she hit the surface and sunk down, down, down into the abyss.Or: Harriet Potter winds up in an odd new world and gets an odd new mark at the back of her neck. As if the scar on her forehead wasn’t enough.
Relationships: Glorfindel (Tolkien)/Harry Potter
Comments: 69
Kudos: 758
Collections: LOTR FF, Old Pineapple's Favs





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Harrie and Glorfindel won’t meet in this story until several chapters in, so if you’re only here for the romance be warned because it’s going be a pretty slow build with mostly focus on Harrie in the beginning. 
> 
> Also, I really enjoy the world of Harry Potter and the way its explored in fandom so I’m continuing to participate in that aspect, but just so we’re all clear, we do not support transphobia in this house and thus we also do not support J.K. Rowling, who is proving herself to be more disappointing for every passing day. If you wish to watch a great video on the matter I would personally recommend [this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Avcp-e4bOs&list=LLhkWsR-PxrhMMSTHL8ld8Rw&index=5&t=0s) by Jamie Raines, who is trans himself.

“ _Crucio_ ,” the wizard hissed, and Harrie deflected the curse with a flick of her wand, quickly shooting back a nonverbal Stunning Spell that hit the man square in the chest. She didn’t have a moment to pause, however, as another curse was swiftly cast her way from the side, making her dive behind one of the pillars to avoid it.

There was a whole group of them, and how they had managed to break into the Ministry and make it all the way to the Department of Mysteries undetected, Harrie did not know.

All she did know was that even though the Dark wizards had managed to take out at least a few of them, the Aurors still had the numbers on their side and would certainly be able to overpower them. They just needed to ensure the Dark wizards’ capture before they got to whatever they were after, because whatever it was, anything that could be found in the Department of Mysteries couldn’t bode well.

She had no idea what purpose the room they were currently in had, and the stone tub in the middle filled with a water-like substance looked ominous at best, but it didn’t appear to be the Dark wizards’ destination. Instead, they seemed to be trying to move past all the Aurors into the next one, and Harrie was determined to stop them from advancing any further.

Ducking out to the left, she fired off a Disarming Charm, and when blocked, she immediately followed up with _Petrificus Totalus_ , causing the hooded wizard to become immobilised and fall to the floor with a thud.

Then, at a loud bang, her eyes flew to one of the Aurors getting blasted back straight into the wall, and she saw how one of the Dark wizards hurried past and disappeared through the door. Instinct had her legs moving to run after before she was even aware of it.

“Cormack!” she called out, and on the other side of the room, a head of short brown hair turned her way. “One of them got through, I’m going after him!”

“Go!” he answered, as he blocked a curse directed his way.

Before she then had time to turn her head away again, she saw how his eyes widened as he looked just past her.

“Potter, watch out!” he shouted, but Harrie didn’t have time to react before the spell hit her.

It happened almost as if in slow motioned as her body froze up and she stumbled to the side, falling into the pool of the mystery substance.

With her gaze still locked on Cormack’s terrified eyes, she had a moment of remembering the last time she’d been inside the Department of Mysteries and had been forced to watch Sirious die. Only now it was her and not her godfather falling. And then she hit the surface and sunk down, down, down into the abyss.


	2. Ch. 1. First Glimpse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the journey begins

The world around her was dark and Harrie was helpless against doing anything except sink deeper and deeper into it, her lungs screaming for air as she tried to calm down her panicked mind. Forcing herself to relax, Harrie focused on the charm in her mind, and even unable to move her lips or the wand tightly gripped in her fist, she still managed to conjure the protective bubble around her mouth and nose. Finally able to breathe, she inhaled large mouthfuls of air and shifted her focus to instead trying to look around.

Only, there was nothing to see except an endless amount of blackness spreading out in every direction of her field of view, and whatever the liquid she was currently sinking down into was, it felt strangely thick and smooth against her skin.

Then, from one moment to the next, she stopped sinking and simply floated in place, as if a strange weightlessness had grabbed her body. Seconds later, the Body-Bind Curse stopped working as well and she got control back over her limbs. Turning around to look at her surroundings, Harrie could see scarcely anything, barely even her own hand as she held it up close in front of her face.

As she made to try and swim back up where she came from, Harrie also soon realised that with the weightlessness now surrounding her, it was impossible to fully know from which way she had fallen down from. Frustrated, she started to swim towards where she thought might be the right direction, and when she could see something that had to be light filtering through further away in the distance, she pushed to move faster.

With large strokes she swam towards it, now also completely sure that she had to be in some type of body of water, even though she suspected that wasn’t what the substance had been when she first fell into it.

Breaking through the surface, Harrie deactivated the Bubble-Head Charm, coughing and spluttering as some water splashed into her mouth from the waves hitting her. Swinging her head around wildly to take in her location, she then quickly realised that she was nowhere close to the Ministry anymore.

Instead of returning up through the stone tub she’d disappeared through inside the Department of Mysteries, the clear blue sky now spread out above her with its morning sun on bright display, even though it had been a rainy evening when the break-in happened. To her right there was only more water for as far as her eyes could see, but to her left she spotted land, and without hesitation she swam towards it.

The water was cold around her and she shivered as she finally got close enough to heave herself out of it and onto the rocky shore. A quick drying and warming charm had her feeling instantly better, even if it didn’t do much in helping with her confusion.

How she’d ended up in the ocean she did not know, nor did she know in _which_ ocean she had ended up in, but she supposed that the stone tub had to have been some type of portal, much like the Floo Network.

With a sigh, Harrie focused on the image of the Ministry of Magic in her mind and attempted to Apparate back. Only, nothing happened. Frowning, she closed her eyes and tried again, but once more she was met by the same results. After then attempting to Apparate home, she even tried for Muggle London, but when those options ended in failure as well, she had to admit momentary defeat.

“Just my bloody luck then,” Harrie muttered angrily to herself.

Looking around on the shore, she saw only great plains stretch out around her, except for in the distance to the right where she thought she might spy the mouth of a river. Taking a chance on it, she tried one final time to Apparate, and instantly the familiar pull of the Apparition could be felt as she first disappeared and then reappeared at the edge of the river she’d been able to spot from her place at the shore.

Scowling, she attempted to travel back to the Ministry again, but to no surprise she was met by the same results as before. For some inexplicable reason, her Apparition seemed to only be currently working for short-distance travel. She knew that it was harder to travel the longer the distance was, and that intercontinental travel was unreliable at best and deathly dangerous at worst. But even disregarding the fact that she had done long-range Apparition before without any issue, the problem now was that nothing happened at all. Had she done it wrong she would have simply splinched, but instead it was as if the magic refused to work for her, and she was unable to feel even the slightest tug on her body. She couldn’t say she’d ever heard of anything similar happening to any other witch or wizard before, but she supposed it had to be possible considering it was currently happening to her.

There was nothing for it, she thought, she’d merely have to find the nearest town and figure out where she was and take the Muggle way back home. Unlike many of her peers, at least Harrie was already well familiar with the Muggle world, so it shouldn’t be such a difficult thing to do.

Gazing inland where the river came from, Harrie figured she might as well follow it. Considering cities often tended to form close to water, she would most likely come across someone eventually. Also, it was a good enough landmark to follow as any, and a far better strategy than to simply wander off into the wilderness, and so with her mind made up, Harrie started the trek upstream.

**o0o**

She walked for what must have been several hours before she decided that travelling the whole way by foot wasn’t really necessary, and opted for Apparating short distances along the river instead.

She had been apprehensive about using too much magic at first when she didn’t know if there would be any Muggles around to see, but the further she travelled, the more the land continued to echo in its emptiness. There seemed to be nothing for miles. No signs of any roads, houses or other things left behind by people, only grasslands, trees and the seemingly never-ending river.

When the evening started to fall, Harrie was still no closer to getting home than when she’d first begun, and with her stomach rumbling along with exhaustion falling over her mind, she decided to settle in for the night.

By using the Summoning Charm, Harrie managed to catch some fish from the river, which she cooked over an open fire that she set up by the river bed. She didn’t recognise what kind of fish it was, but it tasted okay and was sufficient enough in satisfying her hunger, so she couldn’t complain. With the use of the _Aguamenti_ Charm, her thirst was then quenched as well.

Around her, the world was quiet and dark, only the moon and stars there to keep her company. The feeling of being separate from the rest of the world reminded her of being on the run from Voldemort and hunting Horcruxes, all those years ago. But such memories were better left in the past, Harrie thought to herself, absentmindedly grabbing a stone from beside her and throwing it into the water.

She wondered what Ron and Hermione were doing now. Were they at home with their kids? Were they worried about her? Did they even know she was missing? Harrie wasn’t even sure how much time had passed, considering it appeared to have been morning when she arrived up from the ocean. Either that or she had simply ended up in a different time zone.

Exhaling deeply, she let herself fall down on her back and stared up at the overhanging leaves. Reaching up, she grabbed one from off the lower hanging branches and plucked it apart before throwing the pieces up above her and letting them float there as she made them take different shapes and pattern.

With the hour growing later, her eyelids slowly grew heavier with it. Making the pieces of the leaf float down onto the ground again, Harrie conjured a sleeping bag for herself and burrowed down into it. It felt more comfortable than it had any right to be, and with the air mild around her and protective spells set up for the camp spot to keep her safe, she felt almost peaceful.

**o0o**

After that, Harrie spent the next two days following the same routine, walking and sometimes Apparating short distances along the river, stopping for lunch to catch herself some more fish, and finishing the day off with the same meal for dinner. She was definitely craving some variation in her diet at that point, but she also wasn’t really in a position to be picky.

The landscape had stayed much the same, although towards the end of the fourth day she came across a fork in the river. She spent a few minutes debating which one of the two waterways she should now follow, but ultimately decided to stay on the course she was already on.

She stopped to wash off up once in the shallows of the river, but the rest of the journey she opted for the use of a simple cleaning spell instead. It was something she’d gotten used to using after a long enough time in the wizarding world, but it still couldn’t really measure up to the feeling of a real shower or bath.

On the seventh day, Harrie was able to spy mountain tops far away in the distance, both to her right and to her left, and she assumed she had to be getting closer to where the river first began. But with still no people in sight, she was starting to wonder if she’d somehow ended up in one of the few uninhabited places left on earth. Even still, the further inland she got, the more Harrie grew paranoid about bumping into any unsuspecting Muggles. With the trees around her growing denser, until she was wandering in more of a sparse forest than an open field, she was also left unable to see in all directions, and so she chose to keep walking rather than Apparating along.

As the seventh day drew to a close and the sun started setting in the distance, Harrie was just about getting ready to set up camp and get a fire going, when she stepped out of the forest and onto a rocky shore, the river growing broad and shallow, making it possible to walk across if one wished to. Not only that, but she had stepped out onto what looked like a road, that continued through the woods in either direction of the waterway.

It was the first sign of people that Harrie had seen and she couldn’t help but heave a relieved breath. Civilisation was close after all, she thought, gazing off in each direction and trying to decide which way she should choose.

But before she got the opportunity to decide, a loud voice reached her from across the river, and her head instantly turned towards the sound. From between the trees and out onto the road had now stepped five tall men, all dressed in strange medieval gear, armour and helmet included, and Harrie could do little more than blink at them in confusion.

As one of them took a step forward and removed his helmet, a full head of long shaggy blond hair became visible to go along with the man’s full beard, and the combination of the man’s appearance with the outfit he was wearing had Harrie wondering if there were some type of renaissance fair going on close by. But whatever the case might be, Harrie was only happy that she’d finally managed to come across some actual real-life people and would be able to return to home sooner, rather than later.

“Hi!” she called out to them, half jogging over the shallows to reach them. “You wouldn’t mind pointing me in the right direction of a town close by, would you?”

But when the man only frowned at her, Harrie could feel her momentum faltering and she slowed to a stop a few meters away from the group.

Then the man spoke again, words sounding harsh and suspicious as he ran his critical gaze over her, and Harrie realised that she had no idea what language the man was speaking, and apparently, he didn’t seem to understand English either.

“No English?” she tried hesitatingly, just to be sure, but the man’s frown only grew deeper. Taking a chance on it she attempted French instead, because even though she was quite horrible at it, she had managed to pick up some from Fleur. “Pouvez-vous parler français?”

But once more, she was met only by a blank face.

The man spoke again, seemingly asking a question as well, and Harrie only shook her head in response.

“Sorry, I can’t understand a word you’re saying,” she said apologetically.

The man turned back to look at one of his friends, who removed his helmet as well to reveal hair just as long as the first ones spilling out, and looked towards her equally puzzled. When the second man spoke, Harrie thought it sounded different from before and she soon realised that they were probably trying to see if she knew a familiar language as well. But the new language sounded just as foreign to her as the last, and Harrie merely shook her head again.

Unable to speak with her, the men started talking amongst themselves, sounding perhaps as if they were arguing, and she wondered if they were disagreeing over what to do about her.

Harrie was having her own predicament of trying to figure out where in the world she could possibly have ended up and wondering to herself if maybe she wouldn’t do best to simply continue on her own again. But after going a week without seeing another soul, she felt reluctant to leave the men behind. Even if they could not understand each other, surely they would still be able to take her to a city, or at least some place with hopefully more people and someone able to communicate with her.

 _Okay, return to the basics,_ she thought.

“Excuse me, excuse me!” she said, trying to get their attention again, and as their eyes shifted back towards her, she put her hand against her chest in an obvious gesture to indicate herself. “Harrie,” she said, and when they still didn’t seem to fully understand her, she repeated herself before gesturing to the man who had first spoken to her, looking at him expectedly.

After a moment of hesitation, the man put his hand against his own chest. “Garwine,” he said, and Harrie smiled towards him and repeated his name to show that she understood.

The man regarded her for a moment longer before turning to the men behind him again and telling them something to which they nodded in reply before starting to walk back in amongst the trees. Garwine looked back at her and indicated for her to follow, and Harrie was thereafter led to their camp in a small clearing amongst the trees, where they also had horses waiting.

Medieval gear and now horses? Harrie wasn’t really sure what to think, and she sent examining glances towards the men as she took a seat on a fallen tree trunk.

They appeared to have been settling down for dinner as well, as they already had a fire going, and Harrie was more than grateful as she saw one of the men start grilling a big chunk of meat over the open flames. Anything that wasn’t fish would have tasted amazing after so many days of eating it.

The men were speaking in low tones again, sending her enough looks to make it obvious she was the topic of discussion, but Harrie didn’t let it bother her. She’d been talked and whispered about enough in her life at that point that a few men speaking about her wasn’t much of a big deal.

As Garwine took a seat beside her on the trunk and offered her a leather flask, Harrie took it with a nod of thanks, even though she made sure to only take a small sip from it, guiltily wanting to make sure the men had enough when she could already so easily conjure her own clean drinking water.

When she handed it back, Garwine stayed seated and continued to regard her, or maybe more precisely; her clothes. She followed his hand as it reached out to feel the fabrics of first the wool of the coat sleeves before reaching towards the black cotton long-sleeve shirt she had on underneath. She was very conscious of the small red bag which she had hidden underneath her coat, strapped against her chest – small and unassuming as it may look, it had an Extension Charm put on it and contained many things of importance – but she was able to relax as he only touched the fabric thoughtfully between his fingers before removing his hand. He looked down towards her black pants as well but decided against touching them, although he sent them a very obvious frown that Harrie couldn’t really understand the reason for.

Making a comment to the other men, they then started talking about what she assumed had to be her outfit, but as she was still not able to understand them, it was impossible to know what the men found so abnormal about it. It wasn’t that far-fetched from what Muggles would wear either, so Harrie didn’t exactly understand their interest. Then again, if they didn’t understand English at all, perhaps they lived in such an isolated place that her clothing really was that out of the ordinary.

When the meat had finished cooking one of the men tore off a piece and held it out towards her, saying a few short words, which she assumed was him telling her to eat. As she took it she told him thank you and sent him a small smile, which she hoped made the message clear even though he wouldn’t be able to gather the meaning of the words.

The rest of the evening she spent listening to the men as they talked amongst each other, trying to understand even the smallest of words. But it was a task that proved much too difficult, and as the fire died out, Harrie was still no closer to knowing what was being said or what language they were using.

As the men prepared themselves for sleep, one of them walked off instead, and Harrie suspected they were having one in the group keep guard during the night.

Garwine came up to her and showed her a place where she could lie down, before offering her a bedroll. She gave him a thankful smile and started to reach for it when she realised that they most likely hadn’t brought an extra, and that the man was probably offering up his own to her. So taking a step back, Harrie shook her head and let her hands fall back to her sides. But the blond man only frowned at her again and said something that sounded urging, pushing the bedroll towards her again, and this time Harrie took it, albeit reluctantly.

As she laid it out beneath her, she felt guilty over leaving Garwine with nothing, even as she couldn’t help but be glad for his kindness, unable to use magic around Muggles as she was. Because even though the bedroll didn’t do overly much, it was still an improvement to sleeping on the ground directly. And so with her stomach full and the hope of home being a little closer within reach, Harrie soon started to wander off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to let me know what you think


	3. Ch. 2. The Unknown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… not sure if the people who are subscribed to this fic have gotten several emails about me uploading a new chapter, but if that’s the case I just wanted to apologise and warn about it maybe happening again in the future. AO3 has been giving me some problems when it comes to this fic being updated and I haven’t really got an answer yet as to why this issue occurs. But yeah, it’s highly frustrating and I just thought I should let you guys know in case someone is sitting at home wondering why I keep uploading and then deleting all the time 
> 
> On another note, thank you to everyone who has given this fic kudos or bookmarked and commented, really appreciate you all ♡

The next morning, Harrie was awoken at the crack of dawn. With a yawn and a crick in her neck from sleeping a whole week on the hard ground, she got ready to face the day.

Garwine was already busy with rolling up the bedroll he’d given her, and as he gestured for her to follow him, she assumed it meant that they would be leaving.

Only, as they stepped out onto the road again, there was just one of the horses standing ready to go, one of the men she hadn’t really spoken to the previous day sitting on top of it and looking down at her. Giving Garwine a questioning look, he merely said something gruffly in reply and pointed away down the road. Even unable to understand him, Harrie could guess that he meant that the man on the horse would lead her away from there and hopefully to a nearby town.

Before she then had time to give him her thanks, she was unceremoniously grabbed around the waist and lifted up onto the horse so that she was sitting side-saddle behind the other man.

With an undignified yelp of surprise, Harrie immediately grabbed onto the body in front of her to keep balance, sending an irritated glare down towards Garwine for the lack of warning. But the man didn’t seem to pay her much attention as he shared a few short words with the man on the horse before turning his back and walking away.

Without checking in on her, the man in front of her then spurred the horse on and took off down the road, leaving Harrie able to do little else than simply hold on.

Why the man had thought it was a good idea to have her ride side-saddle rather than astride she couldn’t say, especially as it made the whole thing more uncomfortable and harder to find balance where she sat on top of the horse. Instead now having to rely on the man in front to keep her steady as the landscape flew them by.

She wanted to ask him to stop so that she could change her position, but considering lack of words they could share with each other, Harrie decided it was a bit too much effort to go in to, and figured that she could bear with it a while longer. If she had been able to ride both a hippogriff and a dragon, then riding side-saddle on a horse couldn’t be that bad after all. 

Of course, as it happened, Harrie severely underestimated how long they would be travelling by horseback, because although the beautiful nature had kept her mind occupied at first, when it started nearing mid-day and they still hadn’t arrived at their destination, her backside was starting to go numb.

“Hey!” she raised her voice to be sure to get the man’s attention. “I could really use a break around now. Stretch my leg, you know.”

She knew that he didn’t actually understand her, but his head did turn slightly to indicate that he was hearing her, and she needed to say _something_.

To her relief, the man did slow the horse to a stop shortly thereafter, leading them to a rock formation that worked as a form of protection in the middle of the open field they had been riding through.

As soon as they were standing still, Harrie jumped off the horse with a deep sigh of relief falling from her lips, rolling up on her tip-toes and reaching her hands up far above her head as she stretched out her whole body to try and work out the stiffness in her muscles.

When she heard the man clearing his throat behind her, she turned and saw how he was holding out an apple and a piece of bread towards her.

“Guess that’s lunch then,” she remarked, more so to herself than the man who wouldn’t understand what she was saying anyway. “Thank you,” she added with a smile, taking the food from his outstretched hands.

She was just about to turn around when she paused and looked at him, realising that she still didn’t know his name.

“Harrie,” she said, pointing to herself before turning her hand towards him, trying for the same tactic that she’d used on Garwine.

There was a short pause as he regarded her.

“Hefric,” he finally said, the answer more of a grunt than anything, before turning his back and fixing something with the saddle. Harrie got the distinct impression that he did it specifically to avoid having to try and have a conversation with her, seemingly uncomfortable with the idea of being alone with her.

Harrie couldn’t really say that she cared either way, so with a shrug she found a good spot where she could stand leaning against the boulder and have the sun warm her face. 

The bread was a bit dry, but the apple was sweet and juicy, and she ate it while letting her eyes take in the mountains in the backdrop, still vaguely trying to figure out what country she could possibly be in.

With a quick glance towards the man as well, Harrie was no closer to figuring that situation out either. He, along with the rest of the men from the camp, acted strangely serious. With even the way that they were carrying themselves feeling different from what she was normally used to seeing. It made the whole idea around a possible renaissance fair seem a bit far-fetched, especially considering there also didn’t appear to be any big gathering close by, nor had any of the men appeared to be treating what they wore as a simple costume.

On top of that, Harrie could not disregard the strangeness in none of the men taking out and using any phones. Since she lived most of her life without one, it hadn’t crossed her mind at first, but the more she thought about it now, the more she wondered. Basically every Muggle in the world got a phone on them, and from what she had observed, most couldn’t seem to resist using them for more than a couple of hours. Yet these men had not used one even a single time since she met them. Not to mention, that with the help of the internet she probably would have had an easier time being able to communicate with them, and been shown where in the world she was.

No, Harrie was getting more suspicious by the minute that things were not exactly right here. But she kept up her cheerful persona as Hefric called out and signalled that it was time to go practically the minute after she finished her apple.

As he waited for her next to the horse, Harrie got the sneaking suspicion that the man was about to help her up into the side-saddle position again and she looked at him with a frown. True to form, the next moment he apparently had enough of waiting because he reached out for her as if he was about to lift her up, and Harrie was quick to step out of reach and put her hands up in a stop sign.

“No, sorry. We’re not doing that again,” she told him with a shake of her head.

Hefric appeared openly confused, the beginnings of agitation bleeding into his voice as he spoke while gesturing between her and the horse.

“I’ll get on the horse if you just back up a little,” she said, making a little shooing motion with her hand that had him backing up a few steps with his eyebrows drawn together in perplexion.

With one foot in the stirrup, she then pushed up and flung her other leg around the horse’s back until she was seated on her spot behind the saddle.

Looking down, she met Hefric’s gaze as he watched her with wide uneasy eyes, having gone strangely silent. Still not sure what the big deal was around why they wanted her to ride side-saddle, Harrie simply raised her eyebrows as she waited for him to get on. For a few awkward seconds, nothing happened, but then the man cleared his throat and with some stiffness got up on the horse in front of her, and they were off once more. 

**o0o**

They rode the rest of the day without any further breaks and as evening fell Harrie was almost about to demand to have them stop, when a large fortress came into view. It was placed just in front of a huge opening in the mountains and appeared to be built on top of the rock in a way where it looked as if it almost grew out of it. To the left of it stretched a great big wall that barred all ways of entering the gorge, and it was such an unexpected thing to see, that Harrie barely noticed when Hefric spoke, for so enraptured was she in the view of it.

“Huh?”

“Hornburg,” he repeated, and even though Harrie didn’t know what it meant, she wondered if he was telling her the name of the place.

It towered above them as they got closer, and Harrie was peaking her head around Hefric’s shoulder as they rode up the long pathway leading up to the fortress’ enormous gate. She heard someone yelling from inside, and as the doors opened for them, Harrie was faced with a group of men standing gathered on the square inside the keep, staring at them with varying degrees of apprehension and confusion. They were all dressed in the same type of armour as Hefric, and Harrie felt a sense of foreboding as she looked at them.

She was off the horse’s back even before Hefric was, looking around and spying some stables further back where another man dressed a bit more relaxed was sticking his head out to watch the new arrivals.

She stopped in the middle of it all and felt her face turn hard. “Where are we?” She demanded to know, looking back at Hefric who had been approaching her slowly from the back.

When he only paused in his step to stare at her, she narrowed her eyes at him. “Do you truly not speak English or are you just pretending?”

Still no answer, although one of the other unknown men spoke, asking a question from what Harrie could discern, still in that same unfamiliar language. Hefric answered him gruffly and she could feel all the eyes on her like a physical brand as the men studied her.

What was she supposed to do? Why had she been brought here? And where exactly was _here_?

Harrie could feel herself going into fight mode, and she watched Hefric tensely as he got closer and put his hand on her shoulder to give her a small push forward. She followed mostly since she was unsure of what else to do, because however much the whole situation made little sense, she still needed answers that only these people could provide her with.

She was led away from the other men and up a walkway, before being taken inside a building that looked to be working as sleeping courters. Once inside, she was then led to the back where she was shown into an empty room with two beds placed in it.

As Hefric spoke, he pointed between her and the beds to indicate where she would be sleeping, and after he went quiet, Harrie stared at him for several seconds before realising that he was looking for some type on confirmation that she understood. With a short nod, she sat down at the edge of one of the beds, watching him as he appeared conflicted over something, before with a frustrated expression giving up and walking out the door again.

Trying to clear her head, Harrie began for the first time to fully consider the possibility that she might be someplace completely foreign. That perhaps she had fallen through time. Because where else could she be, where people were dressed this way, lived in fortresses, and spoke no English?

Could the Department of Mysteries have found a new way to time travel apart from the time turners? Some portal that takes you all the way back to what seemed to be the medieval times? Did it have a way of then also bringing her back home, or was she stuck here for the unforeseeable future?

The thought made her shudder, and she closed her eyes and fell back upon the hard bed. Absolutely not, she told herself. _Do not let your thoughts go there yet._

But even as she tried to convince herself, home suddenly felt very far away.

**o0o**

She was brought dinner before she could go to sleep, but other than that, the men left her alone for the rest of the evening, and Harrie had chosen not to wander from her small chamber. In part out of fear of lashing out, and in part because she didn’t want to be faced with the possible truth of actually being stuck in the past.

When morning came, she began the day much the same as the previous one, only now it was Hefric waking and urging her to get ready.

She was confused at first, having thought that they had reached their intended location, but apparently it had only worked as a quick stop along the way, and they were now meant to continue on their journey. Harrie could only to hope that it was to somewhere which was an actual city.

As she got on the horse this time, Hefric did not attempt to intervene, although he did look away pointedly in what appeared to be embarrassment. The other men, however, stared at her openly as she sat astride the horse, and Harrie first now realised that their surprise and perhaps one could even say distaste, for her not sitting side-saddle, would make sense from a historical point of view if she actually had travelled backwards in time. Not that Harrie knew all too much about horse riding etiquettes in the old days, but she could guess that a woman riding astride was probably frowned upon and not exactly deemed _proper._

The side-eyeing that her pants had gotten her now also made a lot more sense.

All in all, Harrie was relieved to get out of there and to be rid of the trapped, isolated feeling that the fort had caused her, and be back to the open plains. The soreness from the previous day would have probably made the ride more uncomfortable if she didn’t have magic to help her along, but instead Harrie could let herself enjoy the scenery and fresh air. It was better to focus on the positives, she figured, than to let oneself be consumed by the overwhelming dread of possibly never getting to see your friends again.

As midday came around, she could tell that Hefric was slowing the pace down and getting ready to stop for lunch, something much needed by that point. But as they rode past a cluster of trees and Harrie let her gaze pass over it, she thought she could see something from in between the trunks and leaves. It was too quick for her to be sure what it was, but she thought that it might have been a person, and she was just about to call attention to it when something flew right past her head

Harrie had a shield cast around them before she could properly think about it, wand quickly drawn from the holster in her sleeve and clutched tightly in her hand as she watched some type of creatures emerge in group from the shadows of the trees.

For a second, she could not fully process what it was she was seeing and she felt frozen in her confusion. Because Harrie had seen many different creatures in her days, but none that looked like this. Humanoid in shape and wearing armour, they appeared almost like a deformed version of a person. Only, the ugliness and cruelness that she could see in their faces appeared anything but human, wide mouths open to reveal fangs as they approached with weapons raised and ready to attack. To kill. Harrie could see the intention clear on their faces, could feel their desire to. That darkness and hatred in them that called for blood.

It took Hefric shouting and another arrow to collide with the shield just in front of her face, for Harrie to snap out of it and into action.

As he jumped off the horse with his sword drawn, he turned back to yell at her, and Harrie figured that he was probably telling her to flee. But the fact of the matter was that she’d had enough of fleeing a long time ago, and she was off the horse only seconds after him, wand already firing off the Killing Curse at the creature that was closest to her.

She followed the curse immediately by _Bombarda Maxima_ and as three of them flew back from the explosion, she could see the rest of their eyes turning towards her.

It happened rather fast after that. With only a small group of them, and without any magic of their own to speak of, it wasn’t hard to overpower them, and soon Harrie stood with their fallen bodies scattered around her as she let her eyes scan them over to make sure they were all actually dead.

Only after being sure that none would rise back up did she turn to face Hefric, who stood to the side with wide-eyed shock and disbelief etched on his face. With his sword falling to the ground from his slackened hand, he spoke shaken words that she could not understand. But even though Harrie could not discern their meaning, she knew what a Muggle seeing magic for the first time looked like, and it was instinct more than anything that had her raising her wand towards him.

“ _Obliviate_ ,” she whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sending out an early warning to all the readers out there that an update might take a while. Not only might I still be dealing with this updating issue but I’m also going to be working a lot during the coming weeks and as a consequence I doubt I’ll have much time or energy to sit down and write, so I apologise in advance about that! Hope everyone still enjoyed the chapter though


	4. Ch. 3. Revelations

Harrie still felt rattled and overly paranoid as she could see a city become visible on the horizon. It rested on a hill in a valley between the mountains, and at its highest point she could see a large building with a roof that appeared almost golden in the setting sun.

As they got closer, Harrie could clearly see the great wall that encircled it, and as they rode towards the front gate they passed several mounds that rose from the ground, decorated with countless white flowers. The deliberateness of their placement combined with Hefric’s notable solemnness made her wonder if perhaps they were graves.

There were men stationed on top of the wall who looked down at them as they neared, and they must have recognised her companion because the dark gates were swung open to give them entrance into the city even before they stood fully before them.

As Hefric took them up a stone path climbing the hill, Harrie’s eyes first fell on the small stream which flowed in a stone channel next to the road, and she thought it had to have been fresh spring water for how clean and clear it seemed. Soon, however, her curious gaze turned to the many houses and people that they rode passed.

She couldn’t help but take note of the way they were dressed, seeing as they were the first people she had seen fully without any armour on, their clothes instead rather dull and simple. The muted colours strongly contrasting with the brightness that could often be seen in modern fashion.

Their watchful eyes followed her equally as curious in return as her and Hefric continued up the path.

When they reached the end, Harrie recognised the building with the golden roof which she had been able to spot from the distance, although now upon seeing it up close, it was clear that it was really only made out of straw.

Out of it came guards to greet them, and they spoke with Hefric as the two of them got off the horse, Harrie following closely behind as he took them up the stone stairs leading to the platform on which the building was built upon.

The guards’ eyes surveyed her as she walked through the door into the hall, but she was soon distracted from the ever present-scrutiny as she took in the walls of the building and noticed that they were covered in giant tapestries. She wondered if it was real stories being depicted as she saw the images of kings being crowned, cities being built and warns won.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a hand reached out and grabbed her wrist to keep her from moving any further, so preoccupied with taking it all in that she hadn’t realised that Hefric had come to a stop by her side.

Turning to fully face the front of the big hall, she was met by a throne on which a young man was sitting and watching her steadily, a golden crown resting on his head.

When Hefric dropped down on one knee and addressed who she could only assume to be these people’s king, she stood awkwardly to the side and shifted on her feet, pondering if she too was meant to do the same.

But soon thereafter the king spoke for the first time and Hefric rose back up, speaking Harrie’s name before meeting her eyes and with a gesture towards the man on the throne, speaking his name as well.

“King Théoden,” he said, and as Harrie did a small bow to show her respect, she mused on whether or not she was expected to call him by his first or last name. But perhaps, considering he was the only one so for even introduced to her with more than just one, it would simply be safest to call him by its entirety. 

As her and the King’s eyes met, he spoke to her, and the same as Garwine had done when she first came upon him, he seemed to be attempting a few different languages with her. But for every one that he tried, they only ended up sounding even more foreign than the last, and she shook her head sadly.

With a considerate expression, his eyes returned to Hefric, and after only a few minutes of talking, the King appeared to have come to a decision, Hefric giving a bow before leading her back towards the entrance.

At first she thought it meant that she had been told to leave and would be sent on her way, but instead of leading her out the door, one of the guards took over from Hefric and led Harrie to the left. She watched after him as he disappeared through the entrance, not even sparing her a wave of goodbye, before she was distracted by the door being opened before her. It was on the smaller side, with four beds crammed in along with a dresser standing in one of the corners, and it didn’t take her long to realise that the only reason they could possibly have to be showing her into the sleeping quarters was because they were allowing her to stay.

Not dismissive of the kindness she knew that she was being shown, especially as she was being offered a room in the home of the King himself, Harrie made sure to give a deep bow to fully show her gratitude.

But just before the guard was about to turn and leave, she made a quick move to grab a hold of his arm. As he stopped, his eyes first fell on her hand before moving up to her face questioningly. Removing her hold slowly, Harrie felt slightly bad for what she was about to do, but she wasn’t sure when again she would be given the opportunity to be alone with someone, and she knew that she needed some actual information on things.

So while meeting his gaze, Harrie slowly drew her wand and spoke the words that sent her falling headfirst into the man’s mind “ _Legilimens_.”

She sifted through the man’s childhood memories at first, trying to be respectful in avoiding anything all too personal, before focusing in on the time from when he had joined the King’s guard. Through his eyes she could see as the King had been crowned some few years previous, she could see him riding out in the field with a large group of other men, and she witnessed as they fought with more of those dark creatures that she and Hefric had come across. She saw the death that was caused by their cruel hands, and felt the anger that this man had experienced as a result. But what she finally stopped on was when she could see through the man’s eyes as he looked down at a map spread out on a table. Because the map was full of names and places that Harrie could not recognise. A map that didn’t seem to be depicting anywhere on earth as she knew it.

As she retreated from his mind, the man appeared faint with sweat visibly coating his brows, and Harrie was reminded of how crude her Legilimency still was, even after all these years. As he came back to himself, she watched at his eyes flickered towards the door with a terrified expression on his face, but before he could call out for help, Harrie already had her wand at the ready and calmly erased his memory.

She felt strangely blank for the following few seconds after she watched the man leave back out into the hall as if nothing had ever happened.

Slowly walking up and closing the door, she stood in the silence of the room and considered her newly discovered reality.

There would be no Muggle way home from this, that much was clear, and Harrie wasn’t exactly sure what type of magical solution would succeed in the task either.

Panic bubbling up from her gut and heart pounding loudly in her ears, she thought back to the ocean where she had first appeared out of, and without thinking it over twice, she closed her eyes and let her body be swept away by the Apparition.

Landing back on the familiar shore on unsteady legs, Harrie gazed out at the water, waves higher than when she was there last, brought taller by the raging wind around her, and crashing into the rocks before her to spray drops of cold water onto her skin.

Nothing about how it looked indicated even the slightest bit of abnormality. Nothing to clue her into where a possible portal could be hidden beneath the turbulent swell of the sea.

Determination gripping her chest and mouth hardening into a straight line, she decided that there was only one way to know for sure, eyes narrowed as she stared into the dark waters.

Exhaling deeply, she spoke the incantation for the Bubble-Head Charm, which quickly formed around her nose and mouth to provide her with fresh oxygen.

Looking down at the waves once more, she then backed up several steps, before with a final nod to herself doing a short sprint and taking a leap out from the shore, seconds later breaking through the surface as she dived down into the deep.

It was dark and hard to see even as she opened her eyes, the dimming light from the evening sun seeming to be swallowed up by the sea after the first few meters, leaving only what looked like a bottomless chasm down below.

Swimming out further and going deeper, Harrie brought forth light from the tip of her wand, using it to hold in front of her in lieu of a flashlight, as she tried to look for the place where she had arrived from.

But no matter how far out she swam, or how deep she went, could she manage to find it, hand reaching out and touching the cold sand of the ocean floor instead of allowing her to continue on and be carried off with whatever transportation system that had first brought her there.

She recalled the feeling of the odd substance which she had first fallen into, but nothing of the like surrounded her now, only the coldness of regular water.

Unsure of how long she spent searching in the deeps, Harrie eventually had to begrudgingly admit defeat, and it was with her head hung in resignation that she Apparated back to the room in the city.

**o0o**

It didn’t take her long to realise that the room she’d been offered a bed in was in the servant’s quarters and that she hadn’t been invited to simply stay with the King as an honoured guest. It was obvious that hospitality only earned her so much and that she was expected to work for her place there.

As a result, during the following few days, Harrie experienced a strange paradox where it almost felt as if she was back to life with the Dursley’s again.

Woken up early at dawn every day like clockwork, she was taken from one task to another, leaving her barely any time to rest, until finally late at night she was taken back to her bed to sleep. She was also handed an obviously worn-out dress to wear instead of the clothes she had arrived in, which she took somewhat reluctantly with the thought that at least it would make her fit in better.

The only moments when she was given some reprieve was the few times when she was left alone and there were no watchful eyes around, for then Harrie allowed her magic to do the work for her, leaving her a precious few minutes to relax.

It was very rare that she got the chance however, as there were almost always other people milling around, even though the royal family whom she was obviously serving showed her little notice whenever she came across them. The King she only briefly saw again after the first meeting and it was clear that the tasks that required more close interactions with the royal family were given to the more experienced servants.

Hefric, the guard who had brought her there, appeared nowhere to be found as well, she guessed because he’d been sent back to the fortress where she had first met him, and it left her without a single familiar face around.

There was of course a certain comradery to be found with the other servants, but seeing as they couldn’t actually properly communicate with each other, even that was only very surface-level and Harrie was very noticeably left out of almost all conversations.

The only real positive was that being constantly surrounded by this foreign language as she now was, did help her with slowly learning a word or two.

One of the younger servant girls who appeared to have taken pity on her also started giving her small lessons during those times when they worked together. With a teacher helping her learn the basics of their language it therefore didn’t take her overly long until she was able to communicate with more than just charades. Even if she still only had a grasp over basic words and sentences.

At the very least, it allowed her to learn where exactly she was, which was in the capital city Edoras, in the kingdom by the name of Rohan, or the Riddermark, as she found it more often referred to by the people in the city. Apparently a smaller kingdom compared to the greater Gondor which was situated further south, but still impressive in its own right, or at least according to the people who lived there.

Along with that, she had tried to ask about the creatures who had attacked her, and finally got a word to describe them. _Orcs_.

They were universally hated by everyone she talked to, a dark look on their faces as they spoke of dangerous forces from a land called Mordor. Apart from that though, people didn’t seem very inclined to speak more deeply about it, many shuddering at the mere idea of them, and after a while, Harrie decided to stop pushing for more. Meaning that she still wasn’t exactly sure where this place named Mordor was, or what the history surrounding it were, aside from knowing that it probably wasn’t a place she would want to visit any time soon.

She also caught on to the fact that the King’s name wasn’t actually _King_ Théoden, as she had first believed, but that what she had assumed to be his first name was simply the word for king in Rohirric. Just as she had dutifully learnt the word for _queen_ and _prince_ as well.

It was however her understanding that the Riddermark currently had no queen to speak of, after the King’s wife had died a few years previous while giving birth to their son, something the servants whispered to her about in the dark when they were back in the privacy of their room.

Harrie would often see the young Prince playing in and around the Hall, and she sympathised with him, even as the young boy in question obviously didn’t have any memories of his mother and appeared to live his life carefree, happy and well taken care off. Because unlike Harrie, who had been unwanted, the Prince’s aunt seemed more than happy to lavish him in love in place of the mother he would never know.

But of course, as more time passed and Harrie grew more fluent, this also meant that she was starting to be questioned more on who exactly she was and where she came from.

She played ignorant at first, pretending not to understand their questions, but as weeks and even months started passing by, this grew increasingly more difficult.

She debated simply leaving the city. Something which she had considered even from the start. But when it came down to it, Harrie still knew next to nothing about this world wherever it was, and it felt safer to stay. Going out on her own might give her more freedom, but she couldn’t simply wander around forever and it wouldn’t solve her problem of finding a way to get back home. Which perhaps the city couldn’t do either, but learning the language to be able to speak with the people there still felt like a place to start.

So she stayed. Even in the face of increasing scrutiny.

At first she had hoped that perhaps they would simply forget about it. That when enough time had passed she would ultimately blend in with all the other servants and it would be as if she’d always been there. But unfortunately, the King’s memory didn’t seem to abandon him, and when almost four months had passed, some guards found her in the middle of folding laundry and took her to stand in front of him once more. 

The woman who she had learned to be his sister and not his wife as she had first believed, was standing to the side, regarding Harrie carefully. Her long blonde hair beautifully braided and a gold necklace adorning her chest to show of her wealth and status.

Harrie had never directly spoken with her before, but even with the serious façade she was now putting on, Harrie already knew her to be quite a gentle woman. Seeing her spending time with the prince around the Golden Hall often enough.

She thought the King was likely a just and loving ruler to his people as well, but she didn’t doubt that he would throw her out of the city without hesitation if he saw it fit.

So it was with a deep curtsy that she greeted them, eyes downcast as she had seen the other female servants do when stood before the King and his family.

She stayed in that same position until the King finally spoke up, at which she looked up to meet his searching gaze.

“You’ve been working in my halls for quite some time now,” he said, and Harrie was pretty sure that the slow and overly clear way he was pronouncing his words was entirely for her benefit alone.

“Yes,” she answered, because she wasn’t sure what else she was expected to say.

“And how have you found it?”

Harrie hesitated, turning the words over in her head, unsure if she understood the end of the sentence correctly, but eventually she simply settled for, “Good.”

When the King nodded and seemed pleased by the answer, she assumed that she must have said the right thing.

“I’m glad that you have learned to speak.” It was more of a statement than a question and Harrie only stared at him blankly in reply, pushing down the part of her that wanted to respond she’d been able to speak just fine before as well, just not a language they could understand.

For several moments, silence passed between them, the King looking towards her expectantly, and Harrie unsure on what exactly she was supposed to say.

In the end, she settled for, “What you want to know?”

The language still tasted foreign on her tongue, and she couldn’t help but trip over syllables and feel unsure about the words, but she thought that she at least managed to get the message across.

The next question directed her way however, Harrie understood perfectly, if only because of the amount of times she had now heard it.

“From where do you hail?”

“England,” Harrie answered truthfully, since even after thinking it over several times, she didn’t really see a reason to lie. Because even as they wouldn’t know where England was, she had determined that it would be better than claiming to be from somewhere else and then risk being questioned about a place she had never been. Such a thing could only sow mistrust in others, she thought.

The King frowned. “I have never heard of such a place.”

“It is north,” she said, knowingly vague in her explanation.

The King turned to his sister. “Do you know of where she speaks?”

But Théodwyn only shook her head as well. “Perhaps it is a small village,” she hummed thoughtfully.

“Yes,” Harrie nodded. “Small.” Which to be fair wasn’t exactly a lie, seeing as in her world England truly was a smaller country compared to many others.

“Then tell me,” the King said, returning his gaze to Harrie. “how come you have found yourself so far away from home?”

“Got lost on way.”

With his head tilted to the side, the King scrunched his brows. “You must have had travel companions. What happened to the men who accompanied you?”

The sentence was long enough that she paused before answering. _Companions_ , she wasn’t sure if she’d heard the word before. _Accompanied_ , as well, she did not understand the meaning of. But even when she sometimes couldn’t understand every word, she could often generally piece together what was being said.

“Travel partners?” she tried to clarify, trying for simpler words, and when no one corrected her, she assumed that’s what the King had meant.

She thought about answering that she had travelled alone at first, but considering the lands she was in, she could only assume that a woman on her own had to be out of the ordinary, so she opted instead to lie. “They are gone,” she said.

At her words, the King shifted to sit slightly taller on his throne. “You were attacked?”

Thinking back on the dark creatures she had killed, Harrie saw the easy way out and nodded. “Orcs,” she answered.

“Foul beings,” the King spoke with distaste, a grim look on his face. Then he stood up and walked towards her, as Harrie remained where she was, unsure of what the etiquettes were in a situation such as this.

Stopping before her, the King then put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. It was a heavy, reassuring weight, and Harrie once again felt assured in her belief that this was a good man. “You are lucky to have lived,” he told her. “No woman should be forced to face evil such as that.”

She looked down towards the floor in an attempt to appear demure as she said nothing of the fact that she was strong enough to easily be able to take out every guard currently situated in the city without breaking much of a sweat. Muggles lacking in modern weaponry was truly not much of a threat when it came down to it.

“Do you wish to have any letters sent?”

Looking back up, Harrie shook her head, seeing as there wouldn’t be much of a point in it. The King, however, must have interpreted her reply to mean that there was no one left she had to send any letters to, as pity instantly bled into his gaze. Harrie saw no reason to correct him though, considering she truly was alone in this world either way.

“You are allowed to remain in service here for as long as you may wish,” he said, giving her a kind smile before letting his hand drop back to his side.

“Enough questions,” he then continued. “I have kept you from your work long enough.” And with that, Harrie was effectively dismissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoping to have chapter 4 up before all too long, but as UNI has started up again I won't make any promises


	5. Ch. 4. Branded

When another two months passed and Harrie had spent a total of over six months in the city of Edoras, summer long having passed into winter before slowly starting to transition back into spring, she began to grow truly restless.

Fairly proficient in the language as she now was, she tried to keep up conversations with as many people as she could find to try and get more information. The problem only being that those she had daily contact with were mostly the other servants, none of whom had much knowledge about the world outside of the Riddermark apart from what they heard by word of mouth. Travelling obviously wasn’t a common thing that people had time for or even any interest in.

Although she wondered if this was perhaps at least partly due to the orcs which seemed to roam the lands outside.

Either way, with communication skills in place and no other excuse to stay, it was clear that it was time to move on.

But the main thing delaying her was the fact that Harrie still wasn’t entirely sure where she was supposed to go next. She could also admit to herself that she had grown relatively comfortable in the daily routines over the past several months, even with the amount of tedious chores it required her to do. Perhaps partly this was because it helped distract her somewhat from the reality of her situation. But mostly, it probably came down to the friendship which she had formed with the girl who had first taken to try and help her with learning their language, as Harrie couldn’t stop herself from hesitating slightly at the thought of leaving her behind.

“You missed a spot,” Dawyn told her, leaning over her shoulder to observe as Harrie washed the dishes from dinner. “Be careful, or Sorgifu will see and yell at you again.”

Rolling her eyes, Harrie elbowed her out of the day.

“Continue drying, or she will yell at you instead,” she replied drily, but couldn’t help the smile from tugging at her lips as Dawyn gave a muffled laugh, trying to stay quiet so that no one would come and check in on them.

Sorgifu was a stout middle-aged woman who served as the head of all the female servants, and she took her job quite seriously. This meant that it hadn’t taken her very long to catch on to the fact that Harrie and Dawyn sometimes completed their chores a bit slower than necessary in favour of getting time to talk. As a result, she had started ordering them on different tasks, and unless they wished to be put on different schedules altogether, they now had to be extra cautions.

“You are more cheerful than usual tonight,” Harrie commented.

Dawyn hummed innocently, even as a smile was already creeping its way onto her face. “You think?”

Harrie gave her a pointed look. “You are not fooling anyone.”

“Okay, I’ll tell you!” Dawyn exclaimed, badly hidden excitement in her tone as she lowered her voice into more of a stage whisper. “One of the guards asked me to meet him tonight!”

“Oh.” Harrie blinked slowly as she took in the new information. “As in… ?”

“He obviously likes me, don’t you think? What other reason could he have?”

Harrie felt unsure on how to reply, but she knew that she didn’t want to diminish the happiness currently dancing in Dawyn’s eyes as she gazed at Harrie with hopeful eagerness.

“Who is it?” she chose to ask instead, curiously in her head categorically going over all the guards she normally saw around the Golden Hall.

At her question, the smile on Dawyn’s lips grew into an outright grin, as if she couldn’t contain herself.

“Elfgar,” she answered proudly, watching Harrie expectantly. But when Harrie could only stare back blankly, the grin slowly faded.

“Tall, handsome, the kindest smile you’ve ever seen?” Harrie only shook her head in reply. “How can you not know of him?” Dawyn demanded to know, seemingly personally offended by her lack of knowledge on the subject.

“You are terrible!” she then proceeded to dramatically bemoan. “One would think you do not look at men at all.”

Not entirely untrue, Harrie had to agree, but she also couldn’t claim that her current situation left much thought for such trivial things either way.

“Wait,” she said, as a face suddenly came to the forefront of her mind. “Is he the one who we’ve seen ride that white horse?”

Dawyn immediately grinned widely at her again. “Yes! Him!” Then she laughed and gave Harrie a bump with her shoulder. “There’s hope for you yet.”

“Ah, what a relief to hear,” Harrie said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “Then I can rest easy.”

Dawyn gave another small laugh before quieting down, sending Harrie speculative glances as she continued her part of drying the dishes being sent her way. “You won’t be able to avoid it forever,” Dawyn told her. “You will need to get a husband while you’re still young.”

Harrie didn’t reply, seeing as she couldn’t exactly argue with the fact. For the women in this place it was the reality of things, and even if it made her somewhat uncomfortable, there wasn’t much she could do about it.

“You know…” Dawyn drawled, “I have seen more than one of the other guards look your way as well. If you wish, I could ask Elfgar –”

“No!” Harrie instantly protested, even before she had a chance to finish the sentence. “I don’t need any help.”

Dawyn gave a mournful sigh in response, but exaggerated in a way that told Harrie her disappointment was more for show than anything. “I will convince you eventually.”

“We’ll see about that,” Harrie said, and then, before Dawyn had much time to react, she splashed some of the dishwater towards her.

With a shriek, Dawyn quickly backed away, open-mouthed as she stared at Harrie like a woman betrayed.

She couldn’t help but laugh at the display, and when Dawyn swatted at her with the towel in retaliation, she only laughed harder.

“Aren’t you girls supposed to be working?” The dry voice coming from the doorway made them both immediately shut up and stand to attention.

“Our apologies, Aldor!” Dawyn hurried to do a small curtsy, an apologetic gesture probably meant to try and stop the male servant from sending word of the incident to Sorgifu.

But Aldor only gave an amused snort. “I won’t report you,” he said, “but perhaps try being a bit quieter.”

“Yes, of course,” Dawyn agreed, giving another curtsy for good measure. “Thank you.”

“Enough with that now,” he told her with a wave of his hand. “I’m simply here to fetch some wine for the King.”

He then walked past them, further into the kitchen, until he got to the smaller room next to the pantry where all the wines and beers were kept, and Harrie and Dawyn went back to their work in silence.

**o0o**

Later that evening, as all of her duties were complete, Harrie returned to her room after bidding Dawyn good luck with meeting her prince charming.

She’d also been given her salary, which she received every two weeks, and she stared down at the single silver penny now resting in her hand.

Her grasp over the economic system was still shaky at best, but considering she already got a place to live and food to eat, she had to assume that a silver penny was the normal compensation for servants, no matter how ridiculous it seemed to her.

Of course, Harrie had the unfair advantage that with the use of a single penny, she could create countless more, and already she had a coin purse filled with duplicated money.

It wasn’t something she had thought to do at first, as it was barely ever done in the wizarding world since goblins would instantly be able to detect it, but in these lands… well, there wasn’t really anyone there to stop her.

She could of course simply have duplicated the golden Galleons she kept with her, but it felt safer to stick with the currency that the people around her were used to.

Not that she’d had many reasons to use much of her stash so far, but she figured it would be handy to have available if the need arose. As now, when she thought over her future plans. If she needed to be on travelling foot and search out another city, money seemed like a necessary thing to have.

Perhaps, Harrie thought, she should simply travel further south until she got to Gondor and continue her journey there. With more people around, there were bound to be more information that she could get her hands on.

Now, she wasn’t entirely sure what the correct way leading to the neighbouring kingdom was, apart from it being further south, but perhaps she would be able to convince someone to lend her a map.

Although she felt apprehension towards asking, as she was sure any person she talked to in this place would tell her it was too dangerous to travel alone as a woman.

She also wondered what the proceedings were to quit a job around here, even as they would obviously be unable to force her to stay even if they tried.

Had it not been for Dawyn she might have simply taken her chances and Apparated out of there, hoping to find Gondor on her own. But she didn’t wish to simply abandon her new friend without a proper goodbye.

Heaving a sigh, Harrie put the silver penny into the coin purse with the rest and then sank down onto the bed. The mattress only growing soft and comfortable underneath her back by the help of a small charm.

She was still lying there as two of the other women she shared the room with entered, talking amongst themselves.

They didn’t as much as acknowledge her presence as they gossiped amongst themselves, and Harrie didn’t pay them any mind at first, until she suddenly heard Dawyn’s name come up in the conversation. About the same time as she twisted around to look at them, Brunhild, the taller and younger of the two, seemed to remember her as well.

Leaning towards Harrie as if they were sharing a secret, she looked equal parts eager and curious. “Did you know?”

“About what?” Harrie asked, playing dumb.

“About Dawyn and Elfgar of course!” she said, her voice low and filled with a type of scandalous shock. “We saw them kissing by the stables, can you imagine!”

“About time that girl found herself a man,” Estrun said with a nod. “Although she should perhaps secure him before doing anything stupid. Rumours can spread awfully fast.”

Harrie had to hold her tongue before snapping angrily back at her about people needing to mind their own business, only managing to rein herself in with the knowledge that it would be a useless argument to present.

“I’ll go find her,” she said instead, getting up from bed and hurrying out the room.

Making it outside, Harrie gazed down towards the city which now laid in relative silence after night had fallen, before shifting her eyes towards the stables where Brunhild claimed she had seen them. Unfortunately, the space there was equally as empty as the rest of the city appeared to be.

“Looking for your friend?” The voice startled her, and Harrie turned around to look at the guard who stood leaned against the wall, cloaked in darkness.

“Does everyone know now?” she asked with a groan, hoping for Dawyn’s sake that Elfgar was the honourable sort of man, who had the intention of marrying her and not just use her before moving on to the next.

The guard laughed. “If they wanted to keep it secret, perhaps they would first need to learn to actually be secretive.”

“ _I hope that girl knows what she’s doing_ ,” Harrie muttered quietly to herself in English before raising her voice higher for the man to hear. “You didn’t happen to see where they were going?”

“I think they disappeared into the stable, but I would advise you not to follow.” Harrie could practically hear the grin and barely surpassed mirth in the man’s voice as he spoke, and she couldn’t help but grimace as she understood his meaning.

Walking closer, Harrie leaned against the wall next to where he stood, and she could feel his eyes on her even as she kept her gaze focused towards the stables.

“You better keep an eye on your man and make sure he treats her well,” she said.

“My man, you claim?” The guard gave a short chuckle. “I would not think that Elfgar would take very many orders from me. For that, you would need to speak with either the King or one of the Marshals.”

When she stayed quiet, she heard him shift in the darkness to face towards her, and when he spoke next, his tone had turned more serious and sincere. “I do not think you have any reason to worry, Elfgar is a good man.”

Harrie huffed and crossed her arms. “For his sake, I would hope so.”

“Ah yes,” the man said, “nothing to fear as much as the fury of a woman. My father always did warn me.”

He seemed to be speaking good-heartedly as opposed to mocking her, but Harrie couldn’t stop the reaction that arose within her that wanted to show him that indeed; her anger would be something to make you fear for your life. A response developed within her after a childhood of being faced with others dismissing her worth and power based on her gender.

But with a quick reminder to herself that exposing her magic to Muggles was an overall bad idea, she managed to hold herself back.

“I have a question,” she said instead, changing the topic. “If one were to want to travel to Gondor, what would be the way?”

“Gondor?” he echoed. “I thought you came from the north. What business would you have in Gondor?”

Harrie gave a shrug. “I wish to go.”

Several seconds passed in silence before he spoke again. “There is a trading party who will travel down to Minas Tirith in about a fortnight. But I would not advise you to leave. Gondor is a great kingdom of Men, this is true, but I doubt they would show you the hospitality that you have been shown here. Minas Tirith is far too big for them to have time to look after a single stranger. You might end of up on the streets.”

 _On the streets,_ which Harrie probably guessed equalled prostitution. Of course, the man was not aware of the money she had available, which would very likely allow for an easier life than she currently had here. 

“I will take my chances,” she simply replied.

**o0o**

When Harrie announced her plans to the King, she was met with much the same response as she had gotten from the guard, but after standing firm on her decision, he didn’t do anything to prevent her from leaving. So with a deep bow and a genuine thank you for giving her a place to live, Harrie got ready to move on.

Breaking the news to Dawyn went easier than she had expected. She took the information well after realising that she wouldn’t be able to convince her to stay, and Harrie thought her good mood could most likely be attributed to the fact that she now appeared to have her mind preoccupied with thoughts of marriage. A fact that helped put Harrie’s mind at ease as well, as she knew Dawyn would hopefully have someone there to take care of her, and she promised to try and visit in the future if her travelling ever led her back around.

But it was still with a bittersweet feeling in her chest that Harrie sat in front of Dawyn on the bed to allow her to braid her hair for the departure. Knowing that it might possibly be the last time they ever saw each other again.

“I will miss you,” she said quietly, wondering to herself if she would even make another friend in this new world she was in after leaving the Riddermark. 

With a sound suspiciously similar to a sob, Dawyn wrapped her arms around her and held her tight. “Do not make me cry now,” she said. “I have found a man who wants to marry me, I’m supposed to be happy.” 

Harrie laughed and tilted her head back far enough until she was looking at Dawyn upside down and smiled. “Sorry.”

“You should apologise,” Dawyn replied with a jokingly slap on the arm, “because there is no reason for you to leave.”

Bringing her head back up, Harrie found herself wishing that she could simply tell Dawyn about who she really was and where she came from, but it was a fleeting thought.

Silence fell between them as Dawyn continued weaving her fingers through Harrie’s hair, before Dawyn spoke up again, “I will miss you as well,” she said.

With a smile, Harrie closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of her hair being done up. That was until Dawyn, after lifting her hair a certain way and exposing her neck, fell completely still.

Hesitant fingers reached out to trace a strange pattern along the skin there. “What is this?”

“What?” Harrie had become frozen as well, alarm bells rising in her head at the strange reaction.

The fingers stopped their exploring momentarily. “Do you mean you do not know?” She could practically hear the frown in Dawyn’s voice as she spoke.

“Know _what_?” Harrie asked frustrated. “I do not understand what you’re speaking of.”

“You have a mark on your neck, right here.” She traced the pattern once again with her finger to show what she meant. “It seems to be some sort of text, although I cannot read it.”

Harrie’s insides turned to ice at the statement. “ _A mark_?” Of all the things Dawyn could have told her, to hear that she apparently now had another mystical mark adorning her skin was perhaps the worst thing she could imagine.

Frantically reaching her hands back to feel for it herself, Harrie furiously thought over when it could have appeared. But the mark, whatever it was, did not rise up like the feeling of a scar or tattoo on her skin, instead the skin there still felt completely smooth and untouched. Which meant she wouldn’t have noticed it appearing herself, seeing as she hadn’t had any mirrors at hand since ending up in this world. With her black hair always left to cascade down her back, it wouldn’t be strange for it to have gone unnoticed by others either.

Of course, she could not disregard the option of it possibly having appeared before she fell through the portal, but it seemed too much of a coincidence to be the case.

“Remain here, I’ll be back,” Dawyn suddenly told her, breaking her from her thoughts, before quickly darting out the room. 

Too antsy to be able to stay seated, Harrie got to her feet, pacing the floor as she waited for Dawyn to return, trying to figure out what the portal could possibly have done to her. Even as she tried to calm herself with the fact that she had felt exactly like normal these past several months, she couldn’t help but be worried over what it could mean. With the experience she had with mystical markings on her skin in the past, she didn’t think anyone would blame her.

Just as several minutes must have passed and Harrie started considering going looking for her, Dawyn’s voice could be heard coming from the doorway. “I have it!” she announced, holding up a piece of…

“Parchment?”

“Yes!” Dawyn nodded and held up the second item proudly as well. “And ink.”

 _Oh_ , Harrie thought, understanding what she meant to do only moments before Dawyn explained, “I’ll draw it for you.”

Harrie then watched as Dawyn sat down on the floor and put the piece of parchment along with the ink and quill in front of her.

“Come, sit,” Dawyn urged her, and still feeling somewhat uneasy, Harrie did as she was told.

Holding her hair away from the nape of her neck, Harrie then sat in silence and listened to the sound of the quill being carefully dragged along the parchment to try and recreate the mark for her to see.

It took longer than she would have thought before Dawyn finally appeared to be done. “Finished.”

At the words, Harrie instantly spun around to look.

It was… well, Harrie could agree with her that it certainly did look like some type of writing, although what it said she could have no possible way of knowing.

The symbols were very far from the letters she was used to reading and looked perhaps slightly like that of the Arabic alphabet, although of course Harrie couldn’t exactly read Arabic either, so that wasn’t of much help. Not that she at that point expected this land to have any languages she was familiar with at all.

“I tried to draw it as correctly as I could,” Dawyn said and Harrie looked back up at her.

“How large is it?”

“Oh, not big,” Dawyn held up two of her fingers to measure up just a couple of inches. “About this.”

Harrie looked back down at the painting, which had clearly been drawn bigger to make it clearer, but then before she had time to say anything else, Sorgifu stepped into the room.

“The wagon is about to leave so I suggest you –” She stopped mid-sentence as she took in the scene of the two of them sitting on the floor with the ink and piece of parchment still laying between them. “What in all of Arda's name are you doing? Where did you get that ink from? Return it immediately!”

Her voice rose in pitch for every word that she spoke and an angry flush Harrie had grown used to seeing by then was quickly rising in her cheeks, and as Dawyn scrambled up from the floor with the ink in hand, stumbling over apologies, Harrie reached over to snatch the parchment for herself. With no eyes focused on her, she then vanished it to make sure it instead could rest safety hidden away in her bag.

“Please, Sorgifu, I haven’t even finished braiding her hair yet!” Dawyn was pleading with her, as she was told to leave and have Harrie go on her way.

“Maybe you should have thought about that before!”

“Please! It might be the last time we see each other.”

With a frustrated huff of air, Sorgifu appeared to take pity on her begging as she reached out and angrily snatched the ink from Dawyn’s hands.

“I’ll take that then,” she snapped. “And you better say goodbye quickly.”

“Yes, of course, we will!”

With one more derisive huff, Sorgifu then left without another word, and still without as much of a wave of goodbye to Harrie.

Not much of a loss anyway, Harrie mused.

As soon as she disappeared from view, Dawyn more or less threw herself at her to tearfully say goodbye and pleading with her that she had to visit if she could. After Harrie promised that she certainly would try, she then made sure to quickly finish the braid which she had previously been working on, apologising for not being able to get it perfectly done with so little time.

“It is fine as it is,” Harrie assured her, taking Dawyn’s hands in hers and holding them tightly. “Thank you.”

With one last hug and held back tears, Dawyn then had to bid her farewell, forced to continue with her work for the day and unable to follow her out, leaving Harrie to alone walk down to the gates, where the wagon and the travelling merchants awaited her.

As they welcomed her and gave her a helping hand onto the wagon pulled by two big horses, she couldn’t help the small part that tugged on her and told her to stay.

But the decision was ultimately already made, and almost instantly as she was on board, they called to head out.

With mixed feelings of longing for home while also experiencing the loss of leaving a friend behind, she could only hope that Dawyn had a happy future ahead of her. And perhaps the money that Harrie had left behind for her, hidden underneath her pillow, would help her when it came to starting a family and someday move into a home of her own.

Gazing up towards the Golden Hall as they travelled down the unpaved road, Harrie convinced herself that everything was going to be just fine, even as she lifted a hand to clutch at the back of her neck, where she now knew a strange mark rested and filled her with trepidation.

After all, if she’d been able to handle Voldemort, surely she’d be able to handle whatever else life decided to throw at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, the mark is finally revealed!
> 
> Also, personal headcanon for this story (as was also brought up in the chapter): Being not only the chosen one but also a girl, Harrie got several degrading comments growing up about not being good enough to defeat Voldemort that has made her want to fight back anytime someone implies she’s weak


End file.
